Zune Digital Player: What Will play - and Won't Play

There's a lot of misinformation on the web about what will and will not play on your Zune.

A recent poster in our forums summed up the confusion: "I am hoping you can answer a question for me. I have about 10 GB of music on my hard drive, over half of which I have purchased through music services such as MusicMatch and MSN. I really want to purchase a zune, but I am concerned this player won't play the music I have already purchased from reading some posts, blogs and news. Will it play my music I already have...or is all the music I have out the window? Please clear up this concern for me...I have not been able to find any answers anywhere......"

Let's give a clear answer to that question. We'll be as definitive as we can be from the information available.

In your collection, your music most likely comes from one of the four sources below. Here's what we know for each:

Music bought from iTunes Store...

...cannot be played on Zune (or on any other digital player except for iPod). This is because Apple applies its "FairPlay" digital rights management restrictions on files purchased through iTunes Store.

Music bought or otherwise acquired from sources that do not apply DRM or copy protection...

...are playable on Zune. Examples: songs ripped from CDs; illegally downloaded songs.

Music bought from Zune Marketplace...

...can play on your Zune (naturally). And, cannot be played on non-Zune players.

Music bought from sources that apply DRM protection, but do not restrict the playing of songs to particular players (eg MSN Music and other online stores)...

...does NOT appear to be playable on Zune.

We found the last point hard to believe for a long time. But it now seems clear that Zune players are made to be compatible with Zune services (eg Marketplace) only, and not music purchased elsewhere.

We draw this conclusion partly from a recent enGadget's interview with J. Allard, and from our email interactions with Zune insiders and Microsoft bloggers. In the interview, Allard indicates that "you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works", and his other statements indicate that music purchased through PlaysForSure sources won't play on Zune.

In that regard, then, the Zune system is just as restrictive as iPod/iTunes is.

What does this mean for you? Part of that answer depends on the make-up of your current music library.

For people with large music collections of protected downloaded music, you're not going to be able to play that music on your Zune - at least without some awkward workarounds. This may affect your decision about whether to go Zune or not.

For people who don't have large purchased collections, or who are comfortable with a ZunePass subscription, the decision to go Zune is easier.

And for people who are against closed music systems in general... then neither Zune nor iPod is right for you. Stay on the sidelines and stick with PlaysForSure and other more open systems.

As for me, I'm going with a ZunePass subscription. For a monthly price of an album-and-a-half, I'll have my pick from millions of songs. I'll be swapping songs and albums in and out of my playlists without restriction.

[Harvey Chute is webmaster of http://www.Zunerama.com, a Zune resource center that provides one-stop for all things Zune, including Zune specifications, documentation, comparisons to iPod, FAQ, user forum, and a blog providing analysis and commentary on Zune news.]

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